dhc6twinotter

Something like that would be really nice to have, especially if it could be mounted inside a rim. It reminds a bit of the birfields in the Toyota Land Cruisers.

I actually thought the Technic team did a pretty good job in 2013, and IMHO, that was their best year since I got back into LEGO 4 or so years ago. There were some great sets last year. 2014 may not look as good to us AFOLs (plane is awesome though!), but we aren't LEGO's target demographic. LEGO is going to sell a ton of airplanes and remote control loaders, mostly to kids. The loader, especially, has a huge amount of playability. We may not like how it looks or works, but the kids will. And, LEGO should keep building sets aimed at kids. If it wasn't for the kids, there wouldn't be any sets for the comparatively few of us AFOLs to buy. So, if LEGO feels the need to do the same ideas over and over to sell sets, I'm fine with that. I may not buy the sets, but the important thing is that it keeps LEGO in business. Anyways, to the topic at hand here. There are some excellent proposals. I especially like the idea of being able to buy individual parts. I remember when back in the day, LEGO would allow us to buy individual pneumatic parts, tires/rims, gear packs, appearance packages, etc. Whether or not that would work depends on how competitive they could be with bricklink. I'm all for more universal sets as well. I still kick myself for not getting the Control Center II. What a cool set. I'm fine with just 2 waves, but of course 3 would be better for us! The "More Interaction" section sounds nice as well, however, I don't think it would be financial viable for LEGO to do it. Whatever instructions LEGO releases would have to be for a model that passes LEGO's standards. This means that a designer is going to have to spend just as much time building/designing a model for instructions as he/she would spend designing an actual set. Plus, an instruction developer is going to have to make the instructions. This all adds up to a lot of man hours ($$$), and they will probably end up losing money, especially if they are giving away the instructions. Not sure I understand breaking Technic up into action, universal, and expert series. I don't think something like the Mobile Crane necessarily takes more of an "expert" to build than a pull-back racer. It just takes somebody with more patience and the ability to follow a larger instruction booklet. My 6 year-old nephew built much of the Mobile Crane, including the superstructure and gearbox (we still haven't finished it though…I stole some parts for a moc). He follows instructions better than I do. And, I know LEGO already markets sets as "expert" sets, but it doesn't take a LEGO expert to follow instructions for a large or detailed set. That's just marketing, imho. So, breaking up the Technic line into categories may help with marketing and may make the line a bit more organized, but I don't think it necessarily differentiates the newbies from the veteran builders. A super flagship would be awesome, but I don't think I would shell out more than what I paid for the Mobile Crane. I don't think many people would. It sure would be cool to see what LEGO would come up with though. I hope I don't sound like a party-pooper here. There are some really great ideas being presented, and I hope LEGO can pursue some of these.

I saw this in person at BrickCon, and this thing is amazing. The amount of figuring that went into this is mind-boggling.

That black one is awesome! I like how the grill is done on these too…didn't notice that earlier.

I'm going to skip the bulldozer. It looks like the cargo plane will be my only 2014 Technic purchase. That just means more money for City sets! Woohoo! The arctic theme is nice, and I like the new modular restaurant.

Welcome! Wish I could get that plane...

I'm really liking that plane! It reminds me of the old C119 Flying Boxcars. The icebreaker looks great as well. Overall, this whole arctic line is really nice!

I'm running behind as well, but I'm still shooting to have my project complete in a week. Doubt that will happen, but we'll see. Been busy with a class I'm taking, but I made some good progress yesterday.

That thing is awesome! Fantastic job creating the bodywork. The AC700 has been on my list of things to build for a long time. The thought of building one of these with LEGO is part of what got me back into LEGO. I've been collecting parts and tinkering around with boom designs for a while, but haven't put any serious effort into the crane project.

Very nice combine harvester! All the functions in the head are pretty fantastic!

Awesome! Welcome back to LEGO. Many of us on the forum were away from LEGO at one point, and it's always nice to see somebody else getting back into it. BTW, I used to have a '90 4Runner, which is basically the same as the '92, just with a different front end. I own a 2000 4Runner now.

I think Barman's V8 is probably the most realistic I've seen: Here is a 16 cylinder radial engine I built: My engine isn't the most realistic though. There is no valve train, and the majority of double row radials were either 14 or 18 cylinder engines. There are a few other small scale engines with working valve trains, but I've never seen one that had a true four-stroke setup (valves open on every-other crank rotation).

The dozer doesn't look that bad to me. I'm curious to see how the functions work. There doesn't appear to be any LAs, but perhaps they're a bit more hidden. I like that there is a fake engine, but I wonder if there is a differential or if the engine is driven off of one track. My guess is the latter, but we'll see. It looks like a knob on top of the cab to control one of the functions, or perhaps both functions through a two output gearbox.

I've been putting it together with my 6 year old nephew, and we both like it a lot. I had to use a couple of the panels on a moc I built, so we are currently stuck mid-way through book 6 until I order a couple more panels. It's pretty obvious that a lot of thought went into it, especially the stabilizer design. However, I don't think the gearbox and associated gearing is that efficient of a design (certain functions are geared down, then up again), and the superstructure doesn't look that good. I think whether or not the set is worth it depends on what you want to do with the set. If you want to build it and play with it, then I think some of the functions are pretty slow. My nephew still loves it though, and he's pretty mesmerized by the stabilizers. As a parts pack, the set is excellent, and even better than the 8258 Crane Truck. Just my $.02.

Are instructions required for consideration in the Hall of Fame? Many of the suggestions thus far have been for models with instructions. There are some excellent builders that don't make instructions for their mocs.

Nice! Radials are awesome engines!

Nice! Awesome youtube username btw. I really wish I could have seen some of Bob Hoover's flying. The engine out aerobatic routine he did sounded fantastic.

A system like that would be easier, I think, and I may end up going that way. On the other hand, a pneumatic sequencer would be a bit more realistic as the real p-38 has an actuator for each bay door set. Plus I think it may be fun to build. Not sure which way I will go on this. The flap I built uses two tracks (just axles) per side. It's pretty much the same track layout as the real P-38. It took a bit of figuring, but I'm very happy with how it works. If I can figure out how to use a single pneumatic cylinder mounted behind the cockpit to give me incremental control of the flaps, I may go this route to lower the flaps. If I can't figure that out, I may go with 2 mini-LAs per flap, or a simple worm gear and lever setup. Nice designs! The system I used on the Super Cub won't work because I'm trying to use a mini-turntable for part of the propeller hub. Since the mini-turntable has 28 teeth on it, I'm having to use a new style differential (28t also), instead of the old style differential. The overall principle is the same, but the new style differential just complicates things a bit. The mini-turntable should be much better for the propeller hub though.

This model is growing on me. The green I6 engine is great, and I believe this it the first time LEGO has done an I6 engine in a model. Nice to see a pendular axle as well!

Yup, I've been building! I have a WIP thread started, but haven't posted it yet. I want to get get a bit more built before posting. Main landing gear is done I think, but I still need to figure out how to build the sequencer for gear and bay doors. Landing gear locks in both the up and down position. One of the fowler flaps with slide mechanism is built, but I still need to figure out if I'm going to motorize or use pneumatics on the flaps. I'm currently working on the variable pitch mechanism. I'm using mini-turntables for the propellers, which means the old system I used on the Super Cub doesn't work. I've got the gearing sorted out, but the rest is kicking my butt. I'm out of town currently, but I'll try to have a WIP post up on Tuesday or Wednesday

Nice setup! You asked if anybody else has done a cable system, and I believe Marius Postma used cables on his dhc-6 Twin Otter.

Dark Blue pieces have appeared in the past. The Technic R2-D2 from years ago had some dark blue in it. I think dark blue was available in Bionicle and/or Hero Factory sets as well. I would not be surprised to see dark blue offered again.

Looks like a forwarder with a clambunk. I've never seen this combination, but it's pretty cool! Gives me ideas for my forwarder project... I'm all for LEGO making a forwarder! The basic functions could be done with 4 motors and a gearbox.

You guys might be right. I feel better now.

The beauty of LEGO is that if we don't like what LEGO has to offer, we can create our own stuff.